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Low Calorie Penny Pasta
Diet Delicious & Economical Too

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Diet Recipe: Yes, you can have your penne pasta and lose weight too....

Our Penny Pasta recipe is easy on the diet as well as easy on the budget, and will feed a small army, making it ideal for large groups and families.

Start out by sautéing the following vegetables in a non stick pan using cooking spray or a dash of olive oil.

The Recipe Ingredients

- 1 cup of your favorite stir fry vegetables

- 1 teaspoon of chopped onions

How to Prepare This Recipe

Add to one box of cooked penne pasta (easy cooking directions below). Strive to locate the whole grain pasta as you'll be adding a higher level of health to the recipe.

Add 1 can or jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. Stir to combine. Transfer to a baking dish and top with 6 slices of your favorite cheese. Bake in a preheated 400° oven until cheese is bubbly.

TIP: To prepare the box of penne pasta, fill a deep bowl with water so that the pasta is covered in about 2 inches of water. Add 2 teaspoon of olive oil and stir.

Place into the microwave for 20 minutes. Remove immediately and drain. Perfect pasta every time.

Recipe Calories, Serving Suggestions

Our Penny Pasta recipe contains about 2,400 calories for the entire recipe but take note that calories will vary depending upon the brand of sauce and the variety of cheese used.

We used the Hunt's Original Spaghetti Sauce which contains 50 calories per 1/2 cup serving. We used muenster cheese but have also used Colby and jack cheese - all of which worked wonderfully well.

Opting to use skim mozzarella (60 calories per slice) can further reduce calories but it can be a bit rubbery - and difficult for some to manage.

This low calorie recipe serves six very generously - totally about  400 calories for serving, and again - these are very generous servings.

Another perk is that the Penny Pasta tends to taste even better the second day.

Diet Penne Pasta RecipeBe sure to embrace all of the healthy Food Groups when on a weight loss plan.

All too often it's easy to forget about nutritional values when placing the main focus on 'how many calories' one is consuming.

Nutrition does indeed count and if the body doesn't receive an adequate amount of minerals and essential vitamins, then the rate of weight loss stagnates as vitamins are necessary for the processing of foods.

Think of this situation as a car. It has the potential to go a great distance. If we feed our engine quality fuel, then it will run smoothly as fuel is required for operation.

The fuel - which is gas to the car represents food to the body.

Let's say that we don't have any gas but we must go somewhere in our car. We look around and discover some kerosene and use it to fill the tank.

Yes, the car will run but not so smoothly. Eventually, there will be a breakdown if we continue feeding our engine fuel that isn't wise.

We may eventually experience a total breakdown in the engine.

Such is our body. When we feed it the proper foods and it receives adequate nutrition, it performs as smoothly as possible.

On this note, let's see what food groups that our Penny Pasta recipe has satisfied thus far. We have a healthy dose of vegetables therein, so we've covered the Vegetable Group. Due to the pasta addition, we've covered our Grain Group.

The recipe also contains cheese - so there's our Dairy Group. And it also contains tomatoes from the sauce - so we've also covered the Fruit Group.

One group is lacking: the Protein Group. This healthy food group can assist us in quelling our appetite, building muscle and making us feel more energetic.

If you are a vegetarian, then add a serving of your favorite beans to the menu. Black beans taste lovely with this recipe.

If you aren't a vegetarian, then add some chopped roasted chicken to the recipe.

Now we've covered all of our healthy food groups - and the calories are so low in this recipe that we can also add a few more vegetables - perhaps a serving of asparagus or pickled beets. Diet life is so good....

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